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Singapore’s AI push needs a defensive shield to protect workers
AI can benefit Singapore’s economy, but it can also cost some professionals their jobs or income. Wage insurance can be a remedy.
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While Singapore invests heavily in helping businesses deploy AI, it offers inadequate protection for the workers who are most exposed to AI-driven displacement.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Singapore’s embrace of artificial intelligence represents both opportunity and peril. The Government’s ambitious AI thrust, enshrined in Budget 2026 and earlier Economic Strategy Review recommendations, promises to boost productivity and transform the economy. Tax incentives, training programmes and coordinated national missions signal a determined “offensive” to capture AI’s benefits.
Yet this aggressive push forward masks a troubling blind spot: While Singapore invests heavily in helping businesses deploy AI, it offers inadequate protection for the workers – particularly middle- to upper-income professionals – who stand most exposed to AI-driven displacement and income losses.
